A Short (but Authoritative) History of the T-shirt

© 2003 David Ryan

Most inner-wear historians place the first significant appearance of the t-shirt during World War I. The story, repeated often, is reasonable and probable.

American "Doughboys", as the soldiers were called during the Great War, arrived on the continent with heavy long-john underwear worn under even heavier woolen shirts and pants. This government issued uniform was invaluable when the weather turned foul and chilly, but on a work detail or during a hot spell it was almost unbearable.

The Americans soon saw many French soldiers sporting a short sleeved undergarment made of light cotton, a fabric ideal to work or play in. This t-shirt forerunner quickly became a hot trade item and thousands of the comfortable shirts came home with new owners. The Army and the Navy (for once) caught on fairly quickly and before long the t-shirt was standard issue, changing the lives of millions of young men for the better.

This story explains well the arrival of the t-shirt to these shores but still begs the question of its origin. Did the French truly invent it? And, if not, who did?

The Answer Revealed!

The truth of the matter is that a t-shirt-like garment was used for millennia in Europe and has even been traced back though Roman times and on to ancient Egypt. This simple, ageless garment was the tunic, the true and most credible ancestor of the modern t-shirt. Clear depictions of it have been found in scenes carved in stone dating back at least three thousand years B.C.

The tunic was such a practical and simple garment to make that its use spread throughout the civilized world, making it a standard for thousands of years. In more northern climes, its sleeves were almost always long and the "shirt" itself often reached to the ground, looking less like a t-shirt of today. Back in the torrid heat of Egypt, however, the short-sleeve tunic was often waist length and made of cotton or linen, appearing quite like a modern t-shirt, though much rougher in feel and appearance

As decorative and functional as the traditional tunic could be, it probably never reached the iconic status of today's t-shirt. To understand how that happened, come forward thousands of years and across the sea to the early ‘50's in the United States.

It was in World War II that the t-shirt as we know it today really came into its own. Millions of men were issued their standard issue Shirt, T, Short Sleeve, Mark 1, in their choice of colors, as long as it was white, or sometimes olive drab in the Army and battleship gray in the Navy.

Far from being a seldom-seen piece of underwear, it proved to be practical and comfortable outerwear during such informal events as latrine digging or afternoon ball games. Propaganda shots and movies began pouring in to the home front showing the GI's fighting, working, and playing in their t-shirts. The once hidden garment was coming out of the closet, so to speak, and Americans were quickly becoming accustomed to seeing men wearing it.

Another war in Korea followed and by the early 50's, there were millions of young men in civilian life across the country wearing their t-shirts. It soon spread to the general population, especially among kids. It was, however, still considered an inner garment and hardly proper for polite society. Hollywood, as it has done with so many American customs, would change all of that for good.

In 1951, a character named Stanley Kowalski, played by a brash, in-your-face young actor named Marlon Brando, spent a good deal of the film A Streetcar Named Desire in his t-shirt. The image of Brando in a t-shirt became an icon in its own right and suddenly the young and restless had a style they could call their own and use to thumb their noses at their square parents. Seldom has it been done better than by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. By this time, Elvis Presley was also beginning to drive young girls wild in his t-shirt and this previously inner garment would never stay hidden again.

The next big move for the t-shirt came in 1959 in a move called Breathless. A woman, Jean Seberg, wore a t-shirt on screen and for one of the first times, if not the first, a t-shirt with advertising copy on it was seen far and wide. This particular shirt had the words Herald Tribune, a popular English language paper published in Paris, blazoned across it. Evidently only a few of these were made and it quickly became very "in" among the international crowd to wear one. The t-shirt had stepped up a notch on the social ladder, and on the way, it had become a medium in its own right

The T-shirt as a Blank Canvas

The flood gates were opened when it dawned on people that they could use the t-shirt to advertise, brag, inform, shock, bewilder and exhibit whatever their imagination could invent. Companies began to give away and sell t-shirts emblazoned with their corporate logos, often convincing people to pay for the privilege of being a bill board. Certain designs became a matter of cool and hipness, at least until a more unique shirt was sported by some trend setter somewhere else.

As a blank canvas, the t-shirt responded to one of its highest callings - only one's imagination and technical ability are the limits. It would be futile to describe the ways the once hidden t-shirt has been used, indeed, it would require an ongoing and encyclopedic effort. Just looking at the number of t-shirt companies on the Internet today gives one a hint of how important and varied this garment is. Surely, social historians and anthropologists of the future will dedicate vast amounts of time unraveling the data contained in this most popular of modern cultural icons.

Some Interesting Stats:

Recently, the company Jerzeez commissioned a study on the modern use of t-shirts and published some interesting, but not too surprising, facts:

• Ninety-one percent of Americans profess to owning a "favorite" T-shirt.

• Thirty-four percent say white is the color of their favorite T-shirt, followed by the second and third choices of blue and black.

• Sixty-two percent claim to own more than ten t-shirts which would imply that there are nearly 1.5 billion T's in circulation!

• Overall 70 percent of men and 54 percent of women have more than 10 t-shirts.

• Of people 18 to 24 years of age, 79 percent have more than 10 t-shirts.

• Nineteen percent of that younger group owns more than 30 t-shirts.

• The number one reason for wearing a t-shirt? Comfort!

(Results were tallied from a survey sponsored by Jerzees Activewear (a division of the Russell Corporation) and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International, which posed t-shirt questions to 1009 adults)

Look at these
T-shirts!
Americana T-shirts
American Flag Tshirts
Animal TShirts
Aviation TShirts
Butterfly TShirts
Canadian Tshirts
Cat T-shirts
Christmas TShirts
Cigar Tshirts
Classic TShirts
Coffee Tshirts
Dog T-shirts
Exotic Places Tshirts
Firecracker Tshirts
Flower Tshirts
French Tshirts
Frog Tshirts
Greek Tshirts
Ham Radio Tshirts
Idaho Tee shirts
Ireland Tee shirts
Italian Tee shirts
JeanPaul Phantastic
T-shirts
Lithuania Tee shirts
Love Tee shirts
Marijuana Tax Stamp
Tee shirts
Mexico Tee shirts
Mirek Drozd Tee shirts
Miscellaneous Tee shirts
Money Tee shirts
Morocco T shirts
New Tshirt Designs
Nurse Tee shirts
Patriotic Tee shirts
Polish T-shirts
Postal Mugs
Postcard Tee shirts
Propaganda Tshirts
Pulp Magazine Tshirts
Quotation Tee shirts
Russian Tee shirts
Sale Tshirts
Scandinavian Tee Shirts
Show Poster Tshirts
Soccer Tshirts
Spiritual Tee Shirts
Tarmo Tee shirts
Texas Tee shirts
The $100,000 Tshirt
Tee Shirt Special
Tea Tee Shirts
Train Tee Shirts
Valentine's T-shirts
Western Tee Shirts
Win a Tshirt
Winter Sports T Shirts
Year of the Dog T-shirts
Year of the Monkey
Tshirts
Year of the Rooster
Tshirts
Zodiac Tshirts

Early Tunic

Approved Use of
T-shirt

A Well-Dressed Kid of the 50's

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